Indian National Congress

To discuss the Indian question and to influence the British public men to discuss Indian welfare

Branches of the association in prominent Indian cities

Indian Association

Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876, Calcutta

The aim of creating strong public opinion in the country on political questions and the unification of the Indian people on a common political programme

Poona Sarvajanik Sabha

Justice Ranade, 1870

Madras Mahajan Sabha

Viraraghavachari, Anand Charloo, G Subramanian Aiyer, 1884

Bombay Presidency Association

Pherozshah Mehta, K T Telang, Badruddin Tyabji, 1885

These organizations were narrow in their scope and functioning. They dealt mostly with local questions and their membership were confined to a few people belonging to a single city or province

Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress was founded on 28 December 1885 by 72 political workers. A O Hume was the first secretary and was instrumental in establishing the Congress

First session in Bombay. President: W C Bonnerjee

With the formation of INC, the Indian National Movement was launched in a small but organized manner

The Congress itself was to serve not as a party but as a movement

Congress was democratic. The delegates to INC were elected by different local organizations and groups

Sovereignty of the people

In 1890, Kadambini Ganguli, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University addressed the Congress session

Safety Valve Theory

The INC was started under the official direction, guidance and advice of Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy, to provide a safe, mild, peaceful and constitutional outlet or safety valve for the rising discontent among the masses, which was inevitably leading towards a popular and violent revolution.

Does the safety valve theory explain the formation of Congress?

The safety valve theory is inadequate and misleading

INC represented the urge of the Indian educated class to set up a national organization to work for their political and economic development

A number of organizations, as mentioned above, had already been started by the Indians towards that end

Hume’s presence in Congress was used to allay official suspicions

Why was there a need for an All-India organization?

Vernacular Press Act, 1878

Ilbert Bill (1883) which would allow Indian judges to try Europeans was opposed by the European community and was finally enacted in a highly compromised state in 1884.

The Indians realized that they could not get the Ilbert bill passed because they were not united on all India level. Hence need for INC was felt.

In order to give birth to the national movement

Creation of national leadership was important

Collective identification was created

Aims of INC

Promotion of friendly relations between nationalist political workers from different parts of the country

Development and consolidation of the feeling of national unity irrespective of caste, religion or province

Formulation of popular demands and their presentation before the government

Training and organization of public opinion in the country

The first major objective of the Indian national movement was to promote weld Indians into a nation, to create an Indian identity

Fuller development and consolidation of sentiments of national unity

Efforts for unity: In an effort to reach all regions, it was decided to rotate the congress session among different parts of the country. The President was to belong to a region other than where the congress session was being held.

To reach out to the followers of all religions and to remove the fears of the minorities, a rule was made at the 1888 session that no resolution was to be passed to which an overwhelming majority of Hindu or Muslim delegates objected.

In 1889, a minority clause was adopted in the resolution demanding reform of legislative councils. According to the clause, wherever Parsis, Christians, Muslims or Hindus were a minority their number elected to the councils would not be less than their proportion in the population.

To build a secular nation, the congress itself had to be intensely secular

The second major objective of the early congress was to create a common political platform or programme around which political workers in different parts of the country could gather and conduct their political activities.

Due to its focus solely on political issues congress did not take up the question of social reform.

Since this form of political participation was new to India, the arousal, training, organization and consolidation of public opinion was seen as a major task by the congress leaders.

Going beyond the redressal of immediate grievances and organize sustained political activity.

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